Mapping Environmental Privilege in Rhode Island

Abstract

Abstract

Although scholars have spent a great deal of time describing, and identifying, the mechanisms behind environmental inequality, they have spent far less time exploring the other side. Environmental privilege, conceptualized as the inverse of environmental inequality, allows access to coveted environmental amenities (coastland and greenspace) and freedom from environmental burdens (industrial contamination). This article develops methods for scholars, policy makers, and activists to assess environmental privilege using GIS and the tools of spatial analysis. Using Rhode Island as a test case, it develops an environmental privilege index that takes into account the socioeconomic and environmental dimensions of environmental privilege. The research presented in this article could serve as the basis for further assessments of environmental privilege in other settings, but modifications to the framework will be necessary to capture differences in social and ecological contexts.